Abstract
Food waste generated at the consumer level constitutes a gigantic portion of the total amount of food wasted/lost and valorisation is touted as the most sustainable way of managing the generated waste. While food waste valorisation encompasses several methods, composting is the cheapest technique that can produce stabilised carbon-rich soil amendments. The food waste generated at the consumer level, however, is laden with sodium chloride. The compost produced from such waste has the potential of inducing saline and or sodic conditions in the soil, resultantly impeding proper crop growth and yield. Due to the scarcity of plausible means of eradicating sodium chloride from the food waste before composting, the idea of mixing the composted food waste with other low sodium chloride-containing composts to produce a food waste compost-containing amalgam with a high fertiliser potential was mulled in this study. The study then assessed the effects of mixing sodium-chloride-rich food waste compost with the nutritious and low sodium chloride-containing livestock manure composts on the yield and quality of leaf lettuce. Mixing food waste compost with livestock manure composts in the right proportions created mixed composts that produced a higher lettuce yield than both the pure livestock manure composts and food waste compost. The mixed composts also produced leaf lettuce with higher chlorophyll content and, thus, better marketability and lower nitrate content (with higher health value) than the pure livestock manure composts.
Highlights
It is estimated that about one third of the food produced globally goes to waste every year [1] and that the lost quantum of food could be able to feed one billion people [2].While the production to retail stages account for the largest chunk of the food lost and wasted even in the highly industrialised countries, the per capita loss and waste at the consumer level is far higher in the industrialised than in the developing countries [3]
It is against that backdrop that a lot of countries are exploring more sustainable ways of managing their ballooning putrescible wastes and food waste valorisation for nutrient recycling is at the core of such plans [11]
The results obtained from this study indicate that mixing food waste compost (FWC) with livestock manure Vegetables supply about 72%
Summary
While the production to retail stages account for the largest chunk of the food lost and wasted even in the highly industrialised countries, the per capita loss and waste at the consumer level is far higher in the industrialised than in the developing countries [3]. The per capita food waste stands at 95–115 kg/year in North America and Europe for example while in Sub-Saharan Africa and South/South-East Asia, the per capita waste amounts to only 6–11 kg/year [4]. It is against that backdrop that a lot of countries are exploring more sustainable ways of managing their ballooning putrescible wastes and food waste valorisation for nutrient recycling is at the core of such plans [11]
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